Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at the Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII)

The Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at the Sea-Ice Interfaces Expert Group aims to support and further develop an international community on sea-ice biogeochemistry, to stimulate the interaction between experimentalists and modellers working on this topic, and to help the community articulate research priorities and identify optimised and cost-effective approaches and research platforms in internationally resource-limited times.

The Action Group on Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at the Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII) represents a group of researchers in sea-ice biogeochemistry that started as a group in 2009 and was formalized as a SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research) working group in 2012. It has since continued to grow.

BEPSII serves as a unique forum linking modellers and field scientists studying sea-ice biogeochemistry. As a SCOR working group, BEPSII has been organized around three task groups, focused on:

improving observation methods;

building large-scale databases; and

upscaling processes within models.

The working group's lifetime in SCOR ended but the community sought to continue and expand the group's goals and membership. With an increasing awareness of the important role of sea-ice biogeochemistry in climate-relevant elemental cycles, approval was granted in 2016 for BEPSII to continue as a SCAR Action Group within Life Sciences. At the SCAR Delegates Meeting in June 2018, it was granted Expert Group status.

The aim of BEPSII is to support and further develop an international community on sea-ice biogeochemistry; to stimulate the interaction between experimentalists and modelers working on this topic and to help the community articulate research priorities and identify optimized and cost-effective approaches and research platforms in internationally resource-limited times.